WEEK 1: GETTING STARTED: WATCH, READ, THINK, REFLECT
Visit, Read and Watch | Teds top ten themes for designers of the future (Links to an external site.);
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DESIGN TO MINIMISE WASTE
“This strategy encourages designers to minimise the waste that is created in the textile industry, both pre and post-consumer. It includes zero waste cutting and recycling, but it also introduces the idea at the outset that we need to avoid producing stuff that doesn’t work, that people don’t want.”
“Of the total textile fibre produced, up to 65% is lost, post-consumer, to landfill, incineration or composting, which represents between 400,000 and 700,000 tonnes per annum in the UK. Of this, at least 50% is said to be recyclable” (Allwood, 2006)
Examples:
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Slow design
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Design for long-life and short-life applications
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Zero waste cutting
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Design with enhanced aesthetic value
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Falling in and out of love with clothes too quickly
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Huge volumes of garments being produced and discarded globally in the fashion industry producing a lot of waste.
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How do we produce waste at the outset at the design and production stages?
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How do we minimise out waste but also maintain quality and aesthetics?
Dematerialise:
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Do we need to use all the materials we normally use; rethink the way we design a product at the outset- can minimise waste. Does the product need to be as big as it is made? Form follows function.
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Do we need the product at all? – Can we survive without it?
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Create a multifunctional product.
Zero Waste
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Encourages designers to minimise factory waste by designing pattern that fits perfectly with in the fabric- can produce a new aesthetic to garments.
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Knit, print and weave approaches.
Designing for Durability
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Good quality fashion so that it will survive a range of uses.
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Quality costs money
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How can our product be valued and appreciated by the consumer; designers need to show the consumer how.
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Design in the potential for a long relationship between the product and the owner.
3. DESIGN TO REDUCE CHEMICAL IMPACT:
“This strategy is about appropriate material selection and processes for any product to minimise environmental impacts.”
Examples:
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Seek organically produced material + Use mechanical technology to create non-chemical decorative surface pattern.
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Create effects to replace materials and processes known to be harmful.
What can designers do?
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The textile industry is dirty- all production processes - involve harsh chemicals from the growing of raw materials to the finishing and dyeing of fabrics- making it one of the most polluting industries.
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As designers we need to understand the whole lifecycle of the textiles and garments, we work with to make informed decisions on the chemical impact of the materials and processes in the whole supply chain.
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The more knowledgeable we are on the impact of chemicals the more influence we can have- careful decisions will impact and reduce chemical waste.
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Raw Material Stage: Choose low impact materials such as Organic Cotton that doesn’t use harsh pesticides in the growing process of the cotton plant
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Finishing Stage: Most chemical impact occurs when textiles are at this stage and dyed, treated and washed.
Designers could utilise:
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Ozone technology that replace the use of bleach.
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Laser Technology to replace dyes and adhesives.
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Consider Natural or low impact dyes.
2. DESIGN FOR CYLABILITY
“This strategy explains how when you design for cyclability, the thought process is very different, but totally connected to, the practice of recycling textiles”.
Design for upcycling is about "not merely conserving the resources that went into the production of particular materials, but adding to the value embodied in them by the application of knowledge in the course of their recirculation" (Murray, 2002)
Examples:
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Design for recycling / upcycling
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Design for mono materiality
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Design for disassembly for the closed-loop systems of the future
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Think re-useable/non-invasive installation or renewal
Facts:
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65% of all textiles we throw away goes into landfill
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By placing unwanted products in the bin, we are wasting a range of energy and resources that went into making them.
What can designers do?
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Avoid throwing into landfill and instead reuse the resources.
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Re-think the design brief: Raw materials > Manufacture > distribution > use > Points of disposal.
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Find new ways to recycle and work with existing waste - design for recycling at the outset- enabling the product and materials to become part of a close looped system.
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Proactive future- Change the way we make and dispose of a product- Upcycling, Design for disassembly, design for Monomateriality.
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Upcycling: postpones the arrival of the discarded material- by adding further lives to the value of the product through design.
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Design for Disassembly allows elements of the product to be dissembled and recycled differently. EG: separating polyester, foam and rubber.
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Monomateriality: Creating products with just one material which creates a single closed loop system.
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These approaches for designers will help tackle the waste we are currently approached with to exhibit closed looped systems of the future.
4. DESIGN TO REDUCE ENERGY AND WATER USE.
“Energy consumption and water usage in the textile industry are extremely high and occur at each stage of the lifecycle of textiles – at the production stage, in the use phase (where consumers use and care for textiles and garments) and at the end stage (which covers either disposal and/or re use of the material)”.
“60% of the total energy consumption in the lifecycle of a t-shirt occurs in the use phase. i.e washing, ironing, drying” (Allwood et al, 2006)
Examples:
In the production phase:
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Exhaust printing and dyeing
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Dry patterning systems
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Air-dyeing
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Distributed manufacture
In the use phase:
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Design for no/low launder
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‘Short life’ textiles
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Technical coatings to reduce washing
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Innovative and informative labelling
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Localisation
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Natural energy systems
Textile industry- contributes to Global warming and water usages.
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Takes a lot of energy and water to convert Raw Material > Fibre > Fabric
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To design to consider energy we need to consider all stages of a garments life to make appropriate material choices.
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Different materials have varying energy impacts depending on the materials they are made from.
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E.g. Polyester: Manufactured from Non-renewable petroleum- provides huge energy input to produce the fibre.
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Cotton: Low energy impact on the fibre production phase but is intensive during the use phase.
Use Phase:
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Develop low impact washing habits
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Garments could be designed to be used just once and then recycled.
Water Impact:
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Raw Material stage: Cotton – one of the most intensive crops using 29’000 Litres of water per Kg of Cotton.
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Alternative fibres such as Bamboo + Hemp: less thirsty crops
Finishing Stage of Textile Production:
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Dyed > Treated > Printed > Washed – Has high water impact.
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Consider employing innovations in Ozone Technology for denim finishing (reduce water to up to 90%)
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Use waterless dye techniques (sublimation printer) that print colour on synthetic fibres using heat
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Use CO2 instead of water
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Use Nanotechnology textile treatment- that control odours reducing the need for frequent laundering.
5. DESIGN THAT EXPLORES CLEAN/ BETTER TECHNOLOGIES
“Replacing systems of production with less energy consuming and smarter technologies to reduce environmental impacts.”
Examples:
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Bio-based materials and processes
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3-D printing
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Laser
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Waterjet
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Sonic cutting
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Sonic welding
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Digital printing
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‘Re-surfacing’ of polyester
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Novel dyeing techniques
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Digital finishing
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Tagging
Technical innovation appearing within the textile industry everyday to make production more efficient and lower costs.
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Some new technologies are aimed at creating a more sustainable industry: Planet > Profit > People
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Designers need to understand what these technologies can do and what role they take in creating cleaner systems and products.
Yarn production: regenerated cellulose is bringing textile manufacturing into the twentieth century – using wood pulp to create high quality fibre in a closed loop system.
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Could be able to grow fibres from bacteria in the not so distance future.
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Additive technology such as 3D Printing- being trialled to print new textile fibres from a powder to reduce textile waste.
Textile Manufacturing:
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Industry is using finishing technologies to reduce environmental impacts with digital print, laser and Nanotechnology reducing the needs for coatings and adhesives.
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New online technology such as augmented reality and social media tools > changing the way products are purchased and manufactured- making a link between consumers and industry.
End of life stage:
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Eg. Consumers throwing away their old clothes – there are several different recycled methods so that we can make use of our waste textiles.
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Infra-red scanning – allows us to detect different textile types- making sorting textile waste easier.
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Most textiles found in recycling bins are garments with mixed fibres
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New technology > Can chemically break down good quality fibres into its different parts – however normal recycling bins cannot recycle in this way (technology is being tested and is not far off)
6: DESIGN THAT TAKES MODELS FROM HISTORY AND NATURE:
This strategy is about how much textile designers can find inspiration and information for future sustainable design from studying and reflecting upon nature as well as textiles, habits and societies of the past.
“….the accumulated past is life’s best resource for innovation …reinventing beats inventing nearly every time.” Stewart Brand
Examples:
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Shape-memory polymers to mimic natural movement
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‘Lotus effect’ nano-coatings
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Velcro
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Austerity repair
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Make-do-and-mend
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D.I.Y/ punk customization
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Modern nomads
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Historic dyeing/ printing techniques
What designers can do?
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Designers finding inspiration from the past and from nature.
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Careful investigation into Textile practices and habits from history – to gain new techniques and habits for sustainable design.
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By studying historic garments – learn methods to extend the life of a garment eg through alteration and adaption
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Textile craft (Quilting) innovative methods for material efficiency and reuse
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Using local materials – part of our own culture and environmental heritage- flax/hemp
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The industrial model of production and disposal – been based on what we can extract from the natural world.
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Sustainable approach: What can we learn from nature?
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Velcro > Burs get attached from animal fur
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Kevlar (world’s strongest fibre) > spider silk
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Could nature be genetically altered to manufacture textiles of the future.
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This strategy allows us to become aware of nature’s intelligence and human intelligence from past cultures and traditions > apply this knowledge for a more sustainable system.
7. DESIGN FOR ETHICAL PRODUCTION
This is about design that utilises and invests in traditional craft skills in the UK and abroad. It is about ethical production which supports and values workers rights, and the sourcing of fair trade materials. It questions what ethical production means, and how it differs for each scale of production and manufacture.
“For making a $100 pair of trainers, the factory worker will receive just 50 cents” (www.cleanclothes.org)
Examples:
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Sourcing fair trade materials
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Engaging suppliers who abide by codes of conduct
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Vertical supply chains
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Consideration of local resources
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Designers acting as facilitators of sustainable enterprise in communities
The textile industry supplies 40 million people jobs worldwide, large amounts are working in dangerous and unethical conditions and getting paid low wages.
There are social impacts at each stage of the lifecycle: eg. Raw materials, manufacture, distribution, use, points of disposal.
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The cotton farmers for example In India and Africa – trying to get a fair price on their cotton.
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The worker- distressing denim, sand blasting/ bleach
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Garment factory workers- spending 16 hours at a time at a machine
What can designers do to encourage ethical production that also supports and values workers and skills?
Design and Production processes are deeply interlinked > decisions made by designers will have social impacts!
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Ensure fabrics and materials are fair trade and certified organic
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Engage with suppliers and factories that abide by strict codes of conduct and treat workers fairly.
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Create a transparent supply chain
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Set up production in a local area > control over how workers are treated.
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Set up a sustainable enterprise that creates products and employment as well as support local craft skills overseas.
Designers have the ability to merge ‘making’ and ‘social benefits’ to a community through power and imagination.
8: DESIGN TO REDUCE THE NEED TO CONSUME:
This strategy is about making stuff that lasts, stuff that we really want and want to keep and look after, and the design and production of textiles and products which adapt and change with age. This strategy is also about exploring alternative forms of design and consumption such as co-design and collaborative consumption.
Examples:
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Emotionally durable design
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Slow design
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Consumer participation in co-design and collaborative consumption, crowd sourcing and social networks
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Apps for bespoke information
Consumers these days are addicted to shopping and the quick fix of fast fashion – consumers are spending large amounts on clothing even with the price of clothing going down over the past years.
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Environmental and social impacts of this system are huge
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Evidence > disposable income that we spend on clothes does not make us happier.
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Make garments that last, that people want to keep and look after.
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Ideas of wellbeing and satisfaction that don’t encourage the consumer to buy more.
What can designers do?
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Design ways so that the owner can develop a deep attachment to the piece; customisation options, garments that adapt and change with age > The deeper attachment we create in the garment where the owner will care and repair for it > the less the consumer will feel the need to buy more and more clothes.
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Shopping can become a social event – designers need to figure out a way to replace this social experience with experiences that don’t involve buying new things. Example: Upcycling, DIY Workshops, organising events, developing online platforms.
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Co- design methods where the consumer works with the designer to design their own product which can offer colour and material choices, or a platform for their own designs to be manufactured and produced.
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Crowdsourcing
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Designers and consumers need to engage in our sustainable system so that fashion can be not as wasteful.
9: DESIGN TO DEMATERIALISE AND DEVELOP SYSTEM AND SERVICES
This strategy introduces the concept of designing systems and services instead of, or to support, products, e.g. lease, share, repair.
“Systems & services design illustrates how consumers needs can be met with services as opposed to tangible products, and at the same time provide economic and environmental benefits" (Manzini, E. 2001)
Examples:
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Lease
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Share
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Repair
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Experience design
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User-centered methods to design services
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Collaborative online/local communities
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Transition-towns
10. DESIGN ACTIVISM
In this final strategy we encourage designers to leave behind the product and work creatively with the consumers and society at large. It is about designing events and communication strategies beyond product design to increase consumer and designer knowledge about the environmental and social impacts of fashion and textiles. Here, the textile designer becomes a ‘Social Innovator’. We reflect on how much has changed for textile designers, and how much potential for the future there is!
“...new ways of thinking about how design can catalyse, nurture, enable and activate positive societal changes towards more sustainable ways of living and working….” (Fuad-Luke, A. 2009)
Examples:
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Publications
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Blogs
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Open-source networks
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Exhibitions
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Conferences
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Festivals
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Social media
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Manifestos
The Ted 10 that resonates with me the most is "Design for Cyclability"
With 65% of textiles been thrown into landfill, we are contributing to the waste of a range of energy + resources that went into making each textile. Within my persona project I aim to re-use materials + waste as well as rethink points of disposal. From here I intend to find ways to recycle and work with existing waste to create a closed loop system.
As a designer I want to think about the way we dispose of a product- could there be a disposal bin for designers to turn trash into new materials.
By recycling waste we can start to look at a closed loop system when it comes to materials.
One brand that I really admire for their approach to sustainability is Ragyard. I came across this brand in 2016 on my Gap Year and I was inspired by the innovative way their clothes were designed, sold and used to decrease and prolong the disposal of a garment.
The family run business ‘Rag yard’ finds the earths rag yards including “unique items, looking to turn them inside-out, upside-down and back-to-front.” They then bring them all back to England where designers reimagine and recycle it all. By doing this Rag yard creates new and exciting clothes, accessories and homewares that are heavily inspired by travel, culture and their customers themselves. They are also a unisex brand that has a deep focus in product creativity, individuality and sustainability.
Their process is to rework found and vintage garments to make them important again. By doing this the garments have rich history behind each piece with a new added touch that acts as a fresh and unique element. Rag yard reduces waste and gives loved items a new life, instead of making clothes from scratch.
This brand is a prime example of how the perception of clothing has been shifted from being a disposable product to a more durable and exciting product. By embedding a sense of vintage history, emotional attachment, creativity, individuality and sustainability, the customer is less likely to dispose of it as quick as other items. The one of a kind nature and unique prints gives an extra special element as well towards the customer.
Seen in the first two pictures are two purchases I made from the store. The jacket was a Vintage Levis Denim Jacket that had handmade beading by artists in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. The Jumper was Black made out of 100% Organic Cotton jersey T-shirt, with slouching fit and classic ribbed trims. It has Metallic embroidered peacock-inspired appliqué shoulder detail and I would never in a million years think about parting with them!
My understanding of sustainability is quite broad, the way I look at it is to preserve the resources and materials for the future generations to come to ensure they have access to products and services, while also meeting our needs. I also believe it comes under an umbrella for environmental concern and being aware of the current issues going on around us and how we can strive to be more sustainable.